


Competitive Edge

by TrueMeg



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Competition, Denial of Feelings, Feelings Realization, Friends to Lovers, Harry Potter Next Generation, Hogwarts, Humor, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Canon Compliant, non CC compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:42:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25367038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrueMeg/pseuds/TrueMeg
Summary: When a game of Assassins, a live-action “last person standing” game, is introduced at Hogwarts, Albus doesn’t think much of it when he’s convinced to participate. Maybe it’ll just be a silly thing he and Scorpius decide to do before the school year ends.But the further into the game he gets, the higher the stakes are, the more willing he is to get to the end, and the more he starts pushing aside feelings for his best friend that he’s been sitting on for a long time now.
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter
Comments: 19
Kudos: 75





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to alistoney who wrote the same concept for her Shadowhunters fic!  
> Those of you who also read my fic Reasons To Be Missed will recognize my OC Cora Monroe as well.  
> I know there's tons of different versions of the game Assassins out there, the one described in the fic is the one I'm most familiar with. Feel free to tell me about the version you play in the comments! If you don't know what Assassins is, it is explained in the story so simply keep reading!  
> Enjoy!

“What’s going on?”

There was a buzz in the Great Hall, way too much for a Monday morning, in Albus’ opinion. An excitement was in the air, and as Albus fell into a seat at the Slytherin table, he could see smiles on other students’ faces and some of them bouncing between tables to eagerly talk to their friends. Everyone had a piece of parchment in their hand. 

Next to him, Scorpius was already laughing at Albus and how he clearly hadn’t fully woken up yet. “These were scattered around a little while ago.” He slid Albus a copy of the same flyer everyone else had around the hall. 

In bright bold text at the top of the flyer was the question: **HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO MURDER YOUR FELLOW STUDENTS?**

Albus’ eyes went wide. Scorpius burst out a laugh, which he quickly covered with his hand. “Keep reading.”

Below the invitation for committing a high crime, the flyer read:

**Join in the school-wide game of Assassins. A live-action game of fake-killing and the best kind of chaos. A hundred Hogwarts students, one winner in the end.**

“Fake killing?” Albus asked, letting the flyer fall to the table in favor of pouring himself some coffee. 

Across from him, friend and fellow Slytherin Cora Monroe fell into a seat, her expression matching the excitement of everyone else around the hall. “We’re playing Assassins!”

“We can’t quite play if we don’t know what it is,” Scorpius commented. 

Cora glanced between Albus and Scorpius, only to realize they were both clueless here. She sighed dramatically. “Asassins is a muggle game. I play it every summer with my neighbors. There’s a few different versions of it but really it’s a bunch of people join a game, and you get a target, the name of another person also playing. You have to ‘kill’ them in a fake way. Then you get a new target. Last person standing wins.”

“Sounds dangerous,” Scorpius said. 

“Well it’s not _actual_ killing,” Cora said. “Killing in this game just means you stab them with a spoon or something.”

“That sounds ridiculous,” Albus deadpanned. 

“That’s half of the fun!” Cora was beaming in a way Albus had never seen her do on a Monday morning. “When else can you stab someone with a spoon or put hot sauce in someone’s juice or fire at them with a water gun?”

Cora continued watching them, probably waiting for them to have some kind of realization. 

It was Scorpius who spoke up first. “I understand all of those words separately.”

Albus nearly choked on his coffee. 

Cora rolled her eyes. “You’re not even giving it a chance.”

“Yes! Give it a chance!” 

Albus’ brother James tumbled into the seat across from Scorpius, the sudden action making Scorpius jump. Scorpius’ hand ended up right up against Albus’ own. 

Albus glanced down at Scorpius’ hand and suddenly pictured placing his hand over it. Reach out those last couple millimeters to his friend and settle him back down after the startle. But he didn’t do that. And quickly shut the thought away as quickly as it came. 

“You’re all joining the game, right?” James asked.

Albus finally pulled his hand away from Scorpius’ to grab a piece of toast. No one seemed to notice his internal dilemma. “How do you know this game? I’ve never heard of it.” 

“If you read the rest of this thing,” James slid another flyer at Albus, “you’d know that some of the seventh years are organizing it. I’m not one of them, but I’ve had exclusive intel.”

Sure enough, at the bottom of the flyer was a list of seventh-years who were apparently in charge of the game. And who anyone could go to with questions. 

“The two students at the head of this game are using this as an end-of-school project. They want to work for the Department of Magical Games and Sports.”

“So is it really a fake-killing game?” Scorpius asked, his voice tentative.

“Yes it is. Last person at the end wins bragging-rights. My favorite kind of rights.”

Albus took another swing of coffee to keep himself from rolling his eyes.

“So are you two sold yet?” Cora asked.

“I dunno…” Scorpius replied.

“Come on, it’ll be fun!” 

“Are you guys talking about this game?” Rose hurried up to them.

“Oh no, not you too,” Albus groaned. 

“Yes!” James was beaming, and high-fived Rose. “See? Rose is going to play.”

“Have you _met_ me? Of course I’m playing.”

All Albus would need would be for Lily and Hugo to come up, then he’d have the whole family ganging up on him to play this stupid game. And Albus was not keen on jumping into the deep end while only having a vague idea of what he was jumping into.

Rose turned to Cora. “You’ve played this game right?”

“Every summer, Rosie,” Cora replied with pride.

“Tell me everything so I can win it.”

“No! I can’t have you beat me.”

Still, they ended up in an excited exchange about the game, James joining in too. Albus only half-listened to the conversation that continued around him, focusing instead on his breakfast and caffeinating himself. He really wasn’t in the mood to be in a loud crowd right now. And he was sure the more they hounded him about joining this game, the less likely he’d want to join.

“I need to get my Transfiguration book from the dorm,” Scorpius said suddenly. He stood up, looking right at Albus.

“I’ll go with you,” Albus stood too. “I think I left my essay.”

Cora called a “see you later” to them as they left with more Gryffindors at their table than Slytherins.

“It’s not like you to leave a book in the dorm,” Albus teased Scorpius after they left the Great Hall.

“I didn’t,” Scorpius said.

They walked in silence down to the dungeons, the whole way Albus wondering why Scorpius had initiated them leaving if he didn’t need to. 

The Slytherin common room and their dorm were empty and quiet. Albus was going through a pile of parchment at his bedside when Scorpius spoke again. “This assassins game seems kind of silly, don’t you think?”

Albus pulled out his Transfiguration homework from the pile. “In a good way or a bad way?”

“It kind of sounds like it would be fun,” he finally said with a grin. 

“What? Running around trying to fake-kill people?”

Scorpius shrugged. “Think about it.” Albus turned around to see Scorpius had pulled his wand and was holding it in Albus’ direction, the tip inches from Albus’ chest. Scorpius was beaming. “It could be fun, getting into mayhem with everyone else.”

Albus pushed away Scorpius’ wand with a laugh. “This isn’t usually the thing we do.”

“Maybe that’s the best reason for us to do it,” Scorpius said. 

“What about O.W.L.s?” Albus asked as they went back out to the Slytherin common room. “Uber-geek like you wouldn’t let those marks suffer for a silly game.”

“You really didn’t read the full flyer, did you?” He grabbed a flyer, conveniently left on one of the coffee tables. “Sign ups happen before the O.W.L.s, and game starts once they’re done.” 

“Well this is why I have you, to read it for me,” Albus teased. 

Scorpius chuckled. And even after they left the common room and headed off for class, Albus noticed Scorpius still had a small smile on his face.

The same buzzing energy from breakfast seeped into the halls. The game was still the topic of conversation as the two of them joined the crowd of students, off to their first class of the day. 

“You know,” Scorpius said, “I won’t do it if you won’t. And we don’t have to. I just thought it’d be different. And fun, maybe. But maybe it’ll be just as fun to watch everyone else play this too.”

Albus’ first instinct was to not participate in this. Anything that involved a lot of people, especially a lot of other Hogwarts students, immediately made him think it wasn’t for him or that it would be stupid. Chaotic, even. And a game like this would be way too competitive for anyone’s own good. He liked quiet, and his close friends. But now with Scorpius saying this could be fun, it got Albus thinking. Maybe they could step out of their shells a bit. 

The boys slumped into their usual seats in Transfiguration. As Albus got his book out, he muttered, “Maybe we could sign up…”

Scorpius smiled. “I think we could have fun, honestly.”

The rest of the class filed in, and the lesson started. Not five minutes in, a folded piece of paper landed right in front of Albus. He opened it as quietly as he could, recognizing familiar handwriting. 

_Have you two decided if you’re playing yet?_

At the next desk over, Cora was glancing at Albus every few seconds. Albus hesitated before he picked up his quill and scribbled out a reply. He leaned the note in Scorpius’ direction, nudging him to actually get his attention away from the lecture even for a second. Scorpius scanned it over and nodded.

Albus folded it back and flicked it back to Cora. 

_We’re in. -A & S _

* * *

The O.W.L.s descended upon the fifth years like a tidal wave. Despite every ounce of preparation leading up to the exams, every fifth year felt drowned in the work and the pressure of it. Each day of exams was a new wave of difficulties. 

Albus felt like he’d spent two weeks straight with a textbook open in front of him, pouring over all of his subjects until his brain short-circuited every night. During the exams themselves, Albus could take solace in two things. One, that every exam he struggled over was one more exam behind him, and one day closer to this whole O.W.L. experience being over. And second, that he did most of this studying with Scorpius at his side. 

While most of the time together studying was silent, Scorpius’ mere presence helped Albus feel better about how crazy everything felt. Sometimes Albus would pause his studying, the book still left open in front of him, and he’d find himself watching Scorpius. The way his friend’s gray eyes would flick across the page, his white-blonde hair falling gently over his forehead, the way Scorpius’ hands fiddled absently with a quill. He’d also catch Scorpius watching him too. In their quiet moments while they studied, or even once during an exam. Scorpius would look at him with a soft expression and the hint of a smile on his lips. It would linger for a few seconds before he’d get a little flustered and return to their work. Albus found it absolutely endearing. He would feel a warmth in his chest. He was so grateful to have his best friend with him in all of this. 

O.W.L.s ended on a Thursday. The following Saturday, the game came back.

Albus walked into the fifth-year dorm room to find an envelope had been left on his bed. When he picked it up, he discovered it wasn’t just a letter from his parents as he’d expected. It was much heavier. Some kind of object was inside. And the envelope simply had his name on it, rather than being formally addressed to him. 

Albus sat cross-legged on his bed and carefully opened the envelope. Out of it fell a large gold coin. He handled it carefully, turning it over a few times. It didn’t have any sort of symbol on it, or anything to indicate that it was actually money. Only when he looked very closely did he see that etched into the edge of the coin was his name, _Albus Potter_.

Albus hurried to pull the letter out of the envelope. At the very top of the letter was the phrase: **WELCOME TO ASSASSINS.**

Albus had completely forgotten about the game since the O.W.L.s had taken over. Really, if this whole thing had fallen through, he wouldn’t have noticed. 

The full letter turned out to be a welcome to the game, an explanation of it once again, and the official rules on the back. Albus had to admire the dedication put into this. 

Albus skipped ahead to the details of the game.

_The game is simple: You receive a target that you must eliminate. Someone will also have you as a target. Take out your target, receive a new one, stay alive. Last student standing wins._

Simple enough. Albus had gathered that much from Cora. 

_The coin you received is yours through the duration of the game. The name of your target will appear on the face of the coin. When you eliminate your target, a new one will appear._

Albus couldn’t help but think the whole “coin handed out to students and can spread information” had to be inspired by his dad’s years here.

_The coin also keeps track of the player breaking the rules, getting eliminated, or winning the game. If the coin glows red, that indicates either: you broke a rule, or your target was able to thwart your elimination of them. Red means you are banned from carrying out an elimination until the coin goes back to its normal color. If the coin turns gray, you are out of the game. If the coin glows green, you’ve won._

Pretty advanced stuff in one little coin, Albus thought. 

_If a target is able to stop their own elimination, the killer must wait twelve hours before they can try again. The killer’s coin will glow red during this period._

_Elimination can mean anything from stabbing someone with a spoon, spraying someone with water, leaving a note in a book, and more. You may use magic but you must be within a 6ft range of your target. No elimination may injure your target. Get creative!_

_You must eliminate your target within one week of receiving it._

_You may not be discovered by a professor or any member of Hogwarts staff while playing. Keep it discrete! All active classrooms are safe zones, and you cannot eliminate a target in class._

Albus scanned over the rules a few times, trying to commit it all to memory. It felt like a lot. But it all made sense the more he read it. Keep your coin on you, go after your target, get a new one, don’t let the professors find out. And there was a group of seventh years keeping track of it all.

He couldn’t tell if the butterflies that had fluttered up in him were from excitement or nervousness.

Albus looked up when the door opened, smiling when he saw it was Scorpius. Scorpius set his things on his own bed, always the one right next to Albus, and picked up his envelope.

“What’s this?” Scorpius asked. 

“Assassins,” Albus said. He moved over to Scorpius’ bed, sitting himself down on one end while Scorpius made himself comfortable on the other. Albus still fiddled with his coin while Scorpius scanned over the letter and the rules. 

“This is incredible!” Scorpius burst, his eyes wide and bright. “The Protean Charm on these coins! Obviously it’s N.E.W.T. level stuff, but the fact that they can get individual coins to do different things based on player actions. It’s absolutely amazing! I need to ask one of them about how they do it.”

Albus was smiling all through Scorpius’ little ramble. Scorpius geeking out over these kinds of things never failed to amuse him. “Hey nerd, wait until the game is over before you ask them. I won’t have you having any kind of advantage over me.”

“Is Albus Potter excited about playing?” Scorpius’ voice was teasing. 

Albus shrugged. “Maybe I am. Maybe I’m a little glad you convinced me to do this.”

“This’ll be the fun mayhem we need.”

“Never thought I’d hear those words from you,” Albus said.

“I can surprise even you sometimes,” Scorpius said. “I’m capable of more fun than people think I am.”

“You are fun,” Albus said quickly. He noticed Scorpius’ cheeks go a little pink. “I have a good time around you, always.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Albus looking down at his coin while Scorpius’ gaze down on the rules, though his eyes were very still. 

“This’ll be fun. Even if we only last one day in this game,” Albus said after a few minutes. “Not that I want to be eliminated on the first day.”

“Are you going to get competitive, Albus? I think you might get competitive.” Scorpius grinned.

“I’m not that competitive though,” Albus said defensively. 

“Sure.”

“I’m not! How will I know _you_ won’t get competitive, Scorp?”

Scorpius pointed to himself. “Me?”

Albus pushed Scorpius’ hands down, eliciting a laugh out of his friend. “Neither one of us will be that competitive, okay?”

“Okay.”

* * *

It was the following Monday, as Albus was getting ready in the morning, when he saw the name appear on his coin. He saw something flash out of the corner of his eye as he pulled on his Slytherin jumper. Albus stumbled over to where the coin rested on his nightstand and picked it up quickly. 

_Cody Corner_. 

Albus shoved the thing into his pocket and hastily grabbed the rest of his things. He was already running late for breakfast, and Monday would suck more than usual if he didn’t get a decent dose of coffee in him. With the start of the game, he anticipated a higher level of excitement today.

As soon as he crossed the threshold into the Great Hall, Albus immediately felt the tension. It was like a thick cloud hanging over the entire hall. Students were quiet, more than usual for a groggy Monday morning. Several of them were hunched over their plates, only having a few hushed conversations with people nearby, if they were talking at all.

Albus made his way to the Slytherin table, joining Scorpius and Cora. “Isn’t Assassins supposed to start today?”

“It has already,” Cora said snidely. “Everyone has their first targets.”

“Right,” Albus replied. “I figured people would be excited or something.”

“Excited for getting their own targets, yes,” Cora said. “But everyone is also a target themselves. The Great Hall is free game. Really anyone in here right now could get killed off any second, including us.”

Albus hadn’t thought of that. His thoughts so far had been on the person who had appeared on his coin. Obviously someone would have him as a target as well. 

Cora continued. “I think everyone’s waiting to see if someone else will make the first move.”

“That could go on forever,” Scorpius said. “Everyone waits for someone else to make a move, so no one ever goes for a kill. Suddenly it’s the end of the school year and the game went nowhere.”

Albus laughed. 

Cora stood up abruptly from the table. “Not going to happen. I’m off to go kill someone right now.” With that, she left.

“I really hope she just means the pretend-kind,” Scorpius said. 

Albus was about to say of course she meant that, but with Cora one could never be too sure. 

“Anyway, you got a name on your coin, right? Who is it?” Scorpius was giddy, his eyes bright.

Albus pulled the coin from his pocket. “Am I allowed to tell you?”

“There’s no rules to the contrary,” Scorpius said. He produced his own coin. “I’ll tell you who I’ve got. I need to figure out who it is, actually. So you might have to help me.”

They leaned in close. For a second Albus was keenly aware of how his shoulder brushed against Scorpius’ shoulder, and how he was close enough to smell the lavender shampoo Scorpius used. 

Scorpius’ coin read: _Sofia Hopkins._

“Oh, I do know her,” Albus said. “She’s one of the Gryffindor Beaters.”

Scorpius sighed. “How am I supposed to take out someone athletic?”

Albus put his hand on Scorpius’ shoulder. “Take advantage of some of those distance eliminations.”

“Anyway, let’s see yours,” Scorpius said. Albus pulled his hand away, afraid he’d let it stay there too long. “Cody Corner.” Scorpius read it rather loudly. 

Albus quickly shushed him, though thankfully no one was close enough to hear them. “It has to be discrete!” He said in a loud whisper. 

“Sorry,” Scorpius failed to hold back a smile. “Cody’s a Ravenclaw, fourth year.”

“Lily might know him,” Albus muttered, while letting his shoulders fall. The difficulty of this game was starting to sink in; he’d have to somehow eliminate someone not in his year, his classes, or even in his house. The only connection was that Cody was in the same house as his sister. But he had no immediate idea of how that would help him. And then he’d have to do this same thing again and again and again. All while avoiding his own elimination from the game. 

The negativity carried with him as he and Scorpius made their way to History of Magic. The tension from the Great Hall carried over into the halls too, most students on edge and many looking over their shoulders every few seconds. 

“So if we’re supposed to be discrete with eliminations, do you think we’ll actually witness any?” Scorpius asked.

The question was answered for them, when suddenly a shriek came from down the hall. Between a crowd of students, they caught sight of a young Hufflepuff girl jump before running around a corner, laughter echoing behind her. A Gryffindor boy had tumbled to the floor, wand in hand, looking very disappointed.

“I think we will,” Albus said when the commotion died down. 

Watching whatever that had been in the hall in some strange way had cut away at Albus’ nerves of this game. He walked into the classroom in slightly better spirits. 

Albus and Scorpius went to their usual seats. Right next to their table was Rose, book and parchment already out in front of her. She glanced at them and immediately tensed. She held up a hand that stopped Scorpius and Albus right before they sat down. 

“Can I trust you two?” Rose’s eyes narrowed. 

“Neither one of us have you, Rose,” Albus said. 

Rose didn’t look convinced.

“Promise,” Scorpius added. 

Rose straightened herself in her seat. Albus and Scorpius slowly sat down themselves. “Well you two are lucky that I don’t have either of you as a target either.”

She was right there. Albus wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of Rose’s competitive wrath.

“We’d just been talking about how neither of us really know who our targets are,” Scorpius said. “I mean, we know who our targets are, because they’re on our coins but, knowing them as people.”

“I got that,” Rose replied. Scorpius’ usual bursts of rambling words did little to phase any of his friends. “I think everyone is in the same boat. There’s so many of us playing, you know. But we’ll just have to make it happen, won’t we?” Albus recognized Rose's expression. An excitement at the prospect of this whole thing. 

Cora stumbled into the classroom just as Professor Binns was starting his lecture. Locks of her hair looked out of place, and she seemed pissed off as she settled herself in. 

Albus didn’t pay attention when the class finally got started. His mind was instead focused on what Rose had said. _We’ll just have to make it happen_. 

He may have had many reservations about participating in Assassins so far, but he was committed now. He had to try, and despite these obstacles, he’d just have to make it happen. Or die trying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter updates are coming once a week! Find me on twitter @truexmeg and tumblr @truemeg. :)


	2. Chapter 2

Albus only vaguely knew of Cody Corner. He was sure their dads knew each other when they went to school, though that fact wouldn’t really help him now. Cody was a Ravenclaw, and a fourth year. Catching him in mutual classes or in the common room was out of the question. So that would mean a public area.

Hallways and the Great Hall were crowded, and obvious. Everyone was on edge and expecting attacks in those places. And they happened a lot. Nearly every passing time or meal time there was some attack attempt. He’d avoid those times if he could, though that strictly limited Albus’ chances. Unless Cody happened to be out and about in the evenings. But Albus certainly couldn’t follow the kid around to find an opportune time. 

It was looking more and more likely he’d have to strike in the Great Hall or between classes.

Two days passed and Albus had no luck, and even fewer ideas on how to take out Cody Corner. The sense of determination that had overcome him that first day had slowly ebbed back into nerves the longer he went without an idea. 

It didn’t help that he and Scorpius seemed to turn into the people who were now looking over their shoulders every minute. 

“If someone in Slytherin House had either of you as targets, they would have done something by now,” Cora said to them one afternoon, after the millionth time of the boys looking over their shoulder at the slightest sound.

“That’s exactly what they want us to think!” Scorpius said in a loud whisper. “They’re luring us into a false sense of security in our own Common Room!”

“That’d be a stupid strategy,” Cora said.

“I didn’t know we were talking to an expert,” Albus grumbled.

Cora glared daggers at Albus. He shrunk down into the couch, inadvertently pressing himself closer to Scorpius next to him. 

“Remind me again who already eliminated someone and has a second target? I think her name rhymes with Nora…”

Albus stuck his tongue out at her. Cora had caused quite a commotion in the hallway just earlier today, stabbing a poor third year Slytherin with a spoon. She’d been lucky there were no professors around to catch her.

“You got lucky,” Albus said.

Cora gathered her things and stood up from the couch. “You two better get a move on, before anyone comes after you.” She brushed her way past them, the sleeve of her robe buffeting Albus in the face as she left.

“She has a point,” Scorpius said. “We really shouldn’t be putting it off.”

Albus sighed, setting his notebook on the couch next to him. “I’ve been trying! I mean, I’ve been trying to come up with a way to eliminate Cody. But it’s not like I have a lot of chances to do it.” He’d even taken to carrying a spoon around in his robes but hadn’t mustered up the courage to use it.

Scorpius shifted, pulling his legs up onto the couch and tucking them underneath him. “I’m having the same problem. I suppose I’ve been trying to watch Sophia Hopkins from a distance to find a chance but I don’t like watching people like that. It feels creepy to me. And I’d think it would be weird if someone watched me like that. But then again if we are playing this game then someone is watching me like this right? So if someone’s doing it to me then it’s okay if I do it to someone else? But it still feels wrong..”

“Okay okay,” Albus put his hands on Scorpius’ shoulders, ending his ramble. Albus was smiling in that effortless way he’d discovered only Scorpius could bring out of him. “I get what you mean.”

They sat in silence for a minute before Scorpius’ eyes suddenly brightened. “I can help you!” He turned so he was facing Albus better, and Albus immediately pulled his hands away. “We can help each other, right?”

“How would that work?” Albus asked. “We’re technically competing against each other.”

“Well not right now,” Scorpius said. “Just this once. I think we could both use it.”

Scorpius had a point there. They were both stuck in the same position. “Okay, we help each other. How do we do that?”

Scorpius appeared to realize the extent of his good idea ended there. He bit his lip. A few beats of silence passed between them. Until Scorpius brightened up again and checked his watch. He quickly stood up, tugging Albus’ hand. “Come on! We need to go now!”

“What? Why?” Albus grumbled. 

“If we go now maybe we can make it! We need to get to Ravenclaw Tower!”

* * *

The halls were quiet except for the boys’ footsteps echoing against the stone as they ran. They passed no one on their way up. It made Albus think they were either going to get caught being out after curfew or that this mission would end up failing. Whatever this mission was.

Were they going to walk right up to Ravenclaw Tower and knock on the door to ask for Cody? Every student playing was on alert, no one would be dumb enough to fall for that. 

“Scorpius, what are we doing?”

“Gobstones club!” Scorpius said between huffs of breath, as if that was supposed to answer Albus’ question.

Both of them were panting by the time they made it up several floors to Ravenclaw Tower. Albus had never even been up here. Actually, if he hadn’t been following Scorpius he wouldn’t have found his way here at all. 

They were still alone when they came to the entrance, a big wooden door with a big bronze eagle knocker in the middle. 

“Fill me in on what your bright idea is?”

“Cody is in Gobstones Club,” Scorpius said, still out of breath. “Gobstones Club just met for the night. More importantly they just  _ finished _ their meeting and we can hope Cody is on his way back to his common room. Well, you can hope for that.”

Realization crashed over him. “Brilliant!” This time, Scorpius had to shush him for being too loud. “Okay, what’s the plan?”

Scorpius balked. “This is actually as far as I got.”

Fair enough. This was technically Albus’ kill. He’d have to figure something out on his own. Albus quickly glanced around. “Okay, you’ll distract him. I’ll hide and then--”

“Whoa, whoa, I’m distracting him now?” Scorpius sputtered.

“Just for a minute, okay?” Albus soon heard footsteps coming up the tower. He lowered his voice even more. “You’ll be fine, just do it!” He quickly ducked behind a tapestry hanging nearby, leaving Scorpius alone in the hallway. 

His nervous friend appeared to compose himself when the fourth year Ravenclaw came into view. Cody paused, watching Scorpius from a distance.

Scorpius held up his hands. “Oh, I’m not… I’m not even playing that game.”

Cody relaxed. Scorpius lied so casually that even Albus would’ve believed it. Scorpius was a much better liar than anyone gave him credit for. 

“What’s up, Scorpius?” Cody asked, stepping closer. Albus could just see what was happening around the edge of the tapestry, very much unnoticed. He slowly reached for the spoon he’d had in his pocket.

“Uh…” Scorpius was just out of Albus’ line of sight. “I was thinking of rejoining Gobstones Club actually!”

“Really?” Cody asked. “It’s a little late in the year. And you know I’m not even the club leader, you should be telling this to—“

“Right! I know,” Scorpius said quickly. “I just happened to be around tonight and I was thinking of the idea.”

Cody still seemed to be falling into the lie, despite Scorpius’ unsure tone and stammering. Cody took another step, and now he was just a few arms-lengths away from Albus. 

Albus took the chance. In a fraction of a second, he tore away the edge of the tapestry, fumbling when it stuck to his arm. It all happened in a blur, shoving the fabric away with one hand while the other reached out with the spoon, diving it for Cody’s side. Somehow his feet got caught up in the bustle of it all too, and Albus tripped over himself, nearly falling into Cody but catching himself just in time. 

“Ow!”

Albus knew his silly little weapon had hit home, but he may have gone too hard. “Did I hurt you?”

Well asking that certainly wasn’t a good way to establish himself as a serious competitor. But he couldn’t ignore the pang of guilt. 

Cody stumbled a few steps away from Albus. And the sigh of exasperation that Cody gave pretty much answered that second question Albus had. Albus already let himself grin.

Cody held one hand on his side while his other hand reached into his pocket, pulling out his coin. True to what the rules had said, Cody’s coin had turned a dull gray color. 

“I got you!” Albus exclaimed at the same time that Cody said, “Damn it!”

Next thing he knew, Scorpius was grabbing Albus’ wrist and pulled him away. The boys broke into a run through the halls. Albus even allowed himself to let out a “whoop” that echoed as they ran. Next to him, Scorpius was laughing, and still holding onto Albus’ wrist. 

It wasn’t until they descended the stairs to the dungeons that Scorpius finally let go, and they were just outside the Slytherin Common Room when they both stopped running. Scorpius doubled over as he tried catching his breath between his continued laughs. 

“Whoa!” Albus had a huge grin as he too tried catching his breath. “I did it! I mean, we did it!”

Scorpius nodded quickly. “We did! You did! Maybe we can do this!”

Albus felt elated. A renewed sense of energy was flooding through him. They really could do this.

“You know what this means right?” Albus asked.

“What?”

“Your turn next, Scorp.” Albus’ eyes widened when a new idea came to him. “We can do it right now!”

“ _ Now _ ?”

Albus leaned in close to Scorpius, even though they were alone in the hall and no one would’ve overheard them anyway. “Like I said, Sophia is on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They have practice right now. Actually, it’s probably ending right now. You could catch her as she’s leaving practice.”

“Okay one thing,” Scorpius started, “It seems a little too easy to just wait and ambush her. Something will surely go wrong. Especially if all the other Gryffindor players are there too.”

“Well, it’s not too different from what we just did to Cody,” Albus said. “It worked just now.”

Scorpius chewed his lip for a second. “Okay fine but you’re coming with me.”

Albus certainly wasn’t going to argue with that.

Even on their way down to the pitch, Albus could sense Scorpius’ nerves. A complete shift of his confidence not ten minutes ago when they were running up to Ravenclaw Tower. Now the roles were reversed. But Albus had faith in his friend. If Albus could do it, Scorpius certainly could. 

The sun had just set beneath the mountains in the distance, painting the sky a light orange behind the ever-present clouds. Curfew would be upon them soon. Albus and Scorpius made it to the pitch just in time. When they came to the entrance to the locker rooms, they skidded to a halt when they heard voices inside. 

Suddenly the bright idea of catching Sophia outside Quidditch practice sounded very stupid now that they were here. 

“You need to hide somewhere like I did,” Albus said. But the words were barely out of his mouth when the door opened and out came the Gryffindor Quidditch team. 

Rose stepped out first, stopping abruptly when she saw a frantic-looking Albus and Scorpius in front of her. Scorpius’ arms were awkwardly crossed in front of him too as he stood there frozen. “Hello there boys,” Rose said with a sly smile. “What are you doing here?”

“Just here to say hi,” Albus replied quickly. 

Rose’s eyebrows shot up, and the couple other teammates behind her laughed. “Just to say hi?”

“What? I can’t say hi to my cousin and brother?”

Sophia stood to Rose’s right, laughing at the clear stumbling Albus was going through in this conversation. Clearly Scorpius wouldn’t be able to do his elimination now. Maybe they should cut their losses, take the embarrassment, and try again another time. 

“Well, you’ve said hi, then,” Rose said. “So now I assume you’ll join us in walking back up to the castle?”

“Uh…” Next to Albus, Scorpius mumbled something. Suddenly a streak of silver shot out of Scorpius’ sleeve, hitting Sophia square in the stomach. She dropped to the grass, startling Albus for a second before he realized she was overcome with fits of laughter. 

The Gryffindors started exclaiming their confusion. They all suddenly crowded over Sophia to see what was wrong, one even thinking she was crying rather than laughing. Sophia’s hands were pressed into her stomach as she continued for several long moments laughing away in the grass.

Albus snapped out of a stupor only to look at Scorpius. And he watched a smile slowly take over Scorpius’ face.

Scorpius had done it.

The tickling charm faded within a few more seconds. Sophia was still on the ground and catching her breath when she asked, “Who did that?”

“Oh my God!” Rose’s eyes were glowing with glee. “Scorpius!”

Scorpius was looking at Sophia with wide eyes. “I’m sorry! Did I hurt you?” 

That elicited more laughter out of all of the Gryffindors. Including Sophia as her teammate helped her to her feet and she brushed herself off. 

“You know little Slytherin, I can’t even be mad I’m out. That was cute.” She winked at Scorpius.

The Gryffindors started walking back up to the castle, patting Scorpius on the shoulder as they passed and telling him “nice job.” Albus could tell Scorpius was confused at all of that. 

Rose was the only one who remained. She dropped her bag and threw her arms around Scorpius. The confusion on his face stayed put. “That was brilliant!” Rose squealed. “I’m so proud of you! I got the feeling from Cora that you two would chicken out before you even tried but that was great! I didn’t even see your wand in your sleeve! And the whole standing out here awkwardly was a great act.”

“Uh, yeah sure, that was  _ definitely _ an act,” Albus said. Rose pulled away from Scorpius with another laugh.

The final Gryffindor Quidditch player came out just then. James stopped as soon as he saw them. “What’s happening here?”

“An Assassins elimination!” Rose said. 

James’ jaw dropped. “And I  _ missed it _ ? I missed my little brother’s first kill?”

“Actually it was Scorpius,” Albus said. 

“Well he basically counts too.”

James had an arm around Albus’ shoulders and the four of them made their way back up to the castle. Albus felt a buzzing in his limbs. The excitement of the last half hour was still working its way through his system. And it was making Albus smile much bigger than he usually did, and much longer too. 

As they walked, Scorpius turned to face the others. “We’re not going to talk about that?” 

“Talk about what?” James asked. 

“I was called  _ cute _ . And  _ little _ Slytherin!”

There was an exasperation in Scorpius’ voice that made Albus burst out in a laugh. “Well you are,” he said before he thought about it. “I mean, the way you’d asked if you’d hurt her. That. It was cute, the way it came out.”

While Rose tried to assure a slightly-dramatic Scorpius that Sophia didn’t mean anything bad by it, Albus kept his mouth shut. 

“Having fun with this game yet?” James asked, just to Albus. 

Albus nodded. He suddenly remembered eliminating Cody, the excitement of the moment. Even now, Scorpius’ turn had been exciting too. How it had all been legitimately fun so far. Much more fun than he’d anticipated.

Albus was more than ready to keep going.

* * *

The next name appeared on Albus’ coin by the next morning.  _ Karl Jenkins _ .

Albus could in some ways call Karl a friend. Their circles overlapped.They’d sat near each other in Charms since first year, as well as shared other classes, conversations, and some fun jokes over the years. 

Just a few days ago he’d lamented about how hard it was to eliminate a target he didn’t know. Now that he knew his target, fairly-well in fact, he couldn’t tell if he preferred an acquaintance or a stranger. 

But his resolve from the previous day was still sticking with him. He did it before and he could keep doing it again. 

It was something he was turning over in his head when he sat in the library in the afternoon, gazing out the window at nothing in particular. And he only jumped out of his thoughts when Lily got her hand in front of his face and snapped her fingers a few times. 

“Sorry.” Albus shook his head. Back to the present, here in the library with his little sister, just as he was most Thursday afternoons. Conflicting schedules meant this was the only significant time that Albus and Lily got to spend together. So they spent it doing homework and catching up. Scorpius always joined them when he was done being a teacher’s assistant for Flitwick’s second-year Charms class. 

“This game you’re playing has you zoning out during even your Potions homework,” Lily said. 

“Are you a Legilimens now?” Albus asked. “How’d you know I was thinking of the game?”

“It’s almost all anyone’s been talking about for days.”

Albus felt slightly targeted by that comment. He had talked about the game as soon as he sat down.

“Okay I won’t talk about it and I’ll stop thinking of it for now,” Albus said. 

“Actually I don’t mind,” Lily said, pushing her braid over her shoulder, her muted red hair a stark contrast to her blue Ravenclaw jumper. “It’s actually kind of fun hearing everyone talk about it even when I’m not playing.”

Albus had already asked a few minutes ago. Lily decided not to play simply because she didn’t feel like it. James had tried very hard to convince her to join, but she still refused. Albus admired the sentiment, at least. 

“You’re not annoyed that it’s the only thing anyone’s talking about? And it’s making everyone tense or it’s making people yell and run around in the halls?”

Lily shook her head. “Not at all. Actually, after it started I went right to the seventh years organizing it. Because it’s fascinating how they put it all together and how they’re managing the whole thing, right? I wanted to know it all. I asked them so many questions!”

Albus wasn’t surprised at all that Lily liked that side of it. She was an encyclopedia when it came to knowledge of Quidditch rules, regulations, and even schedules. Same with other wizarding sports and even board and card games. She didn’t have a care at all about the competition side of any of it.

“That’ll be you when you’re a seventh year?” Albus asked in earnest.

“Who says I have to wait until then?”

Albus nodded. “Fair point.”

“But it brings a fun energy around the school, doesn’t it?” Lily said excitedly.

Albus could agree with fun. Stress was also a certain factor in it too. 

“You learn a lot about people from how they play or how they talk about it. And I like to hear it all. Plus,” Lily smirked. “If everyone plays again next year, I’ll have a good advantage with all of this information.”

“You’ve been spending too much time with Cora and Rose.”

“Says you.” Lily stuck her tongue out at Albus, who simply waved it away. “But I like watching people play the game and talk about plans and everything,” Lily continued. “And I noticed,” a glint flickered in Lily’s eyes, “I like seeing how people use what they’re good at to play.”

Albus’ brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“People are using what they’re good at,” Lily repeated. “Like James. James is good at talking to anyone. He’s already taken out two targets by just walking up to them to talk to them. And he’s so good at it that they don’t notice the weapon in his hand until it’s too late.”

Of course James would do that. James could survive actually getting murdered by making friends with the person out to kill him. 

“I was surprised at first when I heard what you and Scorpius did to eliminate Cody and Sophia,” Lily continued. “But then I thought about how you and Scorpius are really good at being with each other, so it makes sense.”

Albus’ cheeks suddenly flooded with heat. “Uh…” He cleared his throat. 

“Rose told me about all that,” Lily said, as if that was what Albus was stuttering over. 

“Right,” Albus muttered. He set his quill down. “Okay sure. It worked for us. But Scorp and I can’t exactly go around eliminating people together for the whole game. And James can’t do his talking thing either. People will catch on.”

And he and Scorpius should really be competing against each other. Though there was a bigger chance one or both of them would be out of the game before they even had to compete. 

Lily brushed her hair away from her face again. “Well this game is bringing out the creativity in everyone. I think that’s quite exciting.”

“Hi there!” 

Albus nearly jumped out of his skin when Scorpius appeared next to him, setting his bag down on the table and taking a seat. Was Scorpius’ class already done?

Suddenly the air was very hot. Albus fiddled with his quill, his eyes trained down on the notebook in front of him. While Scorpius and Lily chatted about Charms, Albus had to train his thoughts away from Scorpius’ appearance and the current conversation and focus on something else. Before the thought was lost to the back of his brain. It was about something Lily had said. 

People are getting creative. Using what they’re good at to make eliminations. 

He had to use what he was good at.

* * *

“I think I want to come in for extra Potions practice.”

Professor Bauer looked up at Albus over the rim of her glasses. “You of all people, Albus?”

Albus looked down at her desk, taking a subtle deep breath to keep his composure. “I think I’m a little rusty on some things. And I’d just feel better with some extra study time…”

“Albus, if you’re still worried about your Potions O.W.L., I’m sure you did just fine.”

“No, it’s not that, really,” Albus stammered. “I uh...can’t really explain it but I think I just need the extra practice.”

Professor Bauer didn’t look convinced. In a few fleeting seconds, Albus was starting to reconcile that this wouldn’t work. He’d have to come up with something else. But instead Professor Bauer sighed and said, “Well I can’t argue with a student wanting to do better. Especially one of my top students. As you may know, I have unofficial study hours after classes end on Fridays. You’re more than welcome to come.”

That’s what brought Albus here to the Potions classroom Friday afternoon. He sat at a table in the back corner. The only other students in the room were two seventh years, a third year, and sitting at the desk right in front of him was Karl Jenkins. 

He’d known Potions wasn’t Karl’s strong subject, by a long shot. He’d helped Karl through several projects over the years. So being here in the hopes Karl would also be here was a very good guess. 

There were two things that would potentially work against him: one, his plan not working. And two, the fact that Professor Bauer was keeping a keen eye on Albus. 

Albus knew he was skating very close to the “don’t let the teachers find out” rule, but he was here and he’d have to take that risk. This was his best chance. Potions was something he was really good at, and it would be unexpected. Albus was so sure of this he’d even taken the time to seek out one of the seventh years who was officiating the game and confirming that this time didn’t count as a “real” class. 

The beginnings of a Hair-Raising potion was in front of him, gently simmering in the cauldron. It was a Potion they’d learned way back in second year. Albus was at the right step in the process to execute his plan. 

“Hey Karl, can you give me a hand?”

Karl turned around. “Potions Prodigy Albus Potter needs a hand?” Coming from anyone else, that would’ve made Albus tense. Because it usually meant someone was making fun of him. But Karl wasn’t like that. 

“Uh yeah,” Albus said. “I have to add this while I turn up the heat.” He pointed to a small bowl of a coarse powder ingredient. “Do you mind?”

Albus wondered briefly if Karl was catching on to anything. To the slight tremble in Albus’ voice, his tense shoulders, or the fact that the potion in front of him was something from years ago. 

“Sure thing.” Karl picked up the bowl with the powder.

Albus pulled out his wand, mimicking the movements of him turning up the heat of the fire below his cauldron without actually doing anything. Meanwhile, Karl held the small bowl of the wrong ingredient over the cauldron. He didn’t notice anything odd, and he then casually tipped the powder into the cauldron.

Suddenly a puff of steam exploded out of the cauldron, buffeting Karl in the face. Steam surged out of the cauldron for several seconds. Albus jumped back. His eyes were wide and jaw open while he watched his actions play out in front of him. 

The steam ceased as soon as it appeared. In its wake was Karl, still hovering over the cauldron with his eyes closed and the front of his hair starting to stand on end. 

Karl looked at Albus, his eyes squinted. “Did you just…?”

“I think so.”

Karl slumped back into his seat and took his coin out of his pocket. Dull gray.

Albus broke into a huge smile. He’d done it once again.

“Is everything alright over there?” Professor Bauer called from her desk, standing up cautiously.

“I’ll be fine, Professor,” Karl replied begrudgingly.

Albus was smiling as he cleaned up his station. Pride was swelling inside him. He’d eliminated one more target. All on his own. And he’d used something he was good at!

He was already looking forward to the next target.

As he left the Potions classroom, he waved goodbye to Professor Bauer, who only returned his farewell with a knowing, sly smile.

* * *

“You already eliminated your next target?”

Scorpius was staring at Albus with his mouth open in an expression of shock.

“Yes, I did,” Albus smiled. Why did Scorpius look genuinely surprised that Albus had eliminated his next person? 

“Very clever using Potions,” Cora said. She was getting a lot of satisfaction looking over at where Karl sat on the other side of the hall. He seemed to be in fine spirits despite his elimination. Though some of his hair was still sticking up. “You could have your own modus operandi.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Albus said. 

“It means a particular way of doing something, often becoming a characteristic,” Scorpius blurted. He kept his gaze down on his dinner plate. 

Albus’ own gaze lingered on Scorpius for several seconds, but Scorpius was very focused on a piece of potato on his plate. He thought his best friend would be happy for him. Or at least geek out over how Albus had done it. 

“Maybe it will be, maybe it won’t,” Albus said, his attention back onto his own excitement. He was proud of himself, and gladly taking in the rare moment of Cora paying him a compliment. He didn’t even have another name on his coin yet but he was more than ready for the next elimination.

“Albus Potter, the Potions Assassin,” Cora said. 

“You better watch out, Monroe.”

“Good luck, Potter. You’re going to need it.”

Albus chuckled at that. He was about to return to eating until he saw Scorpius was watching him with one eye narrowed. “What’s that look for?”

“Nothing,” Scorpius replied. But Albus knew Scorpius well enough to know that the gears were turning in Scorpius’ head. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on twitter @truexmeg and tumblr @truemeg


	3. Chapter 3

Albus had two more targets under his belt in the next few days. One of them he was able to get away with using a Potion again, this time planting a few drops of a hiccoughing solution into a seventh year Slytherin’s pumpkin juice in the common room. When his target figured out what had happened, they violently stood up, specifically pointing at Albus and shouting through the common room that he was using Potions for eliminations. 

Well that was certainly putting a damper on Cora's “modus operandi” theory. It did make him think over using Potions in the future, and how long he could rely on them before they became hurtful, or worse, before people knew it was him and were able to avoid his efforts. 

He had much better luck with his fourth target, taking them out by simply walking down the length of the Great Hall between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables and jabbing a spoon into his target’s back while they ate cereal. 

He was growing more proud of himself as he got further into the game. 

In the lulls during the days, Albus figured out how others in the game were faring. He got the information in part from people like Cora, James, and Rose. And also from overhearing other students and the ever-present gossip. Between shelves in the library, the two minutes before class would start, fleeting parts of conversations in the halls, people were talking. 

Over half of the players had been eliminated by that point. And though there were significantly fewer people still playing, there was still a level of tension hovering over the students. Not only among the players, who would still go stiff if someone got too close and peeked over their shoulders every chance, but even among the students who weren't playing. People were just as eager to see how the rest of the game would go, what other eliminations they’d witness before their eyes, and who would be the ultimate winner.

A few names stood out as the strongest remaining contenders. James was one of them, which wasn’t a surprise to Albus. Other strong contenders were a seventh year Ravenclaw named Ander, a fourth year Hufflepuff named Bea, as well as Albus’ fellow fifth years Yann Fredericks, Cora, Rose, and Albus himself. 

People were very impressed with Albus’ potions methods. And impressed in general that the quiet, middle Potter sibling had decent stakes in the game. Students who’d never even acknowledged his existence in the past now called his name in the halls and at meals, congratulating him on his gameplay. Many of them were Slytherins rooting for someone in their house to win. It made Albus feel a bit like the underdog. And fueled his pride and the need to prove himself.

He could prove to this whole school that he could do this. He could be the winner. 

Every remaining player woke up one morning a couple weeks into the game with a note on their nightstands: _New rule: You can no longer tell anyone who your target is._

 _Interesting_ , Albus thought.

This game was now hounding his thoughts, almost constantly. He was lucky that O.W.L.s were done, and he didn’t need a ton of brain-power for his classes. So now he was focused almost entirely on the competition, keeping himself safe from elimination, and thinking through his next kills. 

Albus sat at breakfast with Scorpius and Rose one morning. “You know fifth years make up the biggest group of people still left in the game?” Rose said excitedly.

Scorpius didn’t look up from the parchment he’d been scribbling notes on. “So they say,” he mumbled.

Scorpius had angled himself in a way that he was covering most of the parchment with one arm. He’d read over whatever was already printed on it, and occasionally scribble his own writing on it with a sense of fury. 

Albus figured it was something homework related. “They’re saying it’s because the fifth years have so much bloodlust after we’ve finished our O.W.L.s.”

Albus and Rose were both watching Scorpius eagerly for a reaction. But Scorpius appeared to not even hear what Albus had said. 

Instead Scorpius quickly stood up and gathered his things. “I’ll see you in class.” Before Albus could ask what he was rushing away for, Scorpius was gone. 

“Is he alright?” Rose asked. 

Scorpius had been doing this for the past few days. He was much quieter lately, and very focused on very random textbooks and sheets of parchments. The two of them sat together in the common room or library in mostly silence. Which wasn’t an odd occurrence. They could and had before sat in comfortable silences, enjoying each other’s presence while they studied. But the silences were longer now, and Albus had a much harder time pulling Scorpius’ focus. 

Which was...fine. Albus wasn’t thrilled about how Scorpius was acting. But he didn’t know how to change it. Scorpius would tell him if something was wrong. Had Scorpius been eliminated from the game? He couldn’t be, Albus would’ve heard about it either from Scorpius himself or from someone else. Had Albus said something? He didn’t think so. Scorpius wasn’t mad, just distant. They didn’t talk about Assassins at all. Well, Albus did, and Scorpius responded with short answers.

Albus was snapped out of his thoughts when suddenly a giant box dropped on the table in front of him and Rose. James stood before them. He had a huge grin on his face, his arms spread wide, like Albus was supposed to know what this was. 

“Cora helped me get this,” James said, and sure enough she appeared next to him.

James pulled at the packaging, sending pieces of paper and cardboard scattering across the table. Finally he pulled the thing out of the box. It was nearly as long as his own arm, a bright blue and orange plastic toy resembling a muggle gun. 

“What in the world is this?” Rose demanded.

“It’s called a water gun!” James held the thing up for the group to see. “Cora got it from something called The Amazin.” Next to him, Cora sank her face into her hand.

“And you got this because…?” Rose looked at James with narrowed eyes.

“Well Assassins is a muggle game. And I thought, in the spirit of the muggle game, I should use a muggle-type weapon for eliminations. It just shoots water.”

“It is a popular weapon to use when muggles play this,” Cora said as she swiped a piece of bacon from Albus’ plate. 

True as that may have been, it was bold of James to open it and loudly show it off right in the middle of the Great Hall. 

“How does it work?” Rose asked.

James handed it over the table to her. “Water goes in that tank, you pump this thing here, then pull that trigger there and a stream of water comes out here.”

Rose picked up a cup of water and poured it into the plastic tank, nodding along to James’ affirmations. She pumped the big lever at the bottom of the gun a few times. 

“Like this?”

“Just like that, Rosie Posey.”

“Then you just point and press?”

“Easy, right?”

Rose pointed the gun at James and a stream of water hit him square in the chest. James tripped backwards, nearly toppling over the bench as she sputtered around the splash of water.

Rose stopped and was absolutely beaming. “You’re right, it is that easy!”

“Rose!” James yelled. But Rose was already out of her seat and running away from the carnage.

At some point in all of that, Albus had put his hands up. Some of the water had splashed onto him, but James’ shirt was now downright soaked. Cora, meanwhile, was cackling.

“I don’t regret getting you that anymore! That was great!”

Albus let himself laugh a bit too. It was pretty genius.

James sank into a seat, pulling his now gray coin and depositing it on the table. “I have no one to blame but myself.”

Albus pulled out his wand, pointing it at James and directed a stream of warm air at him. After a few seconds, the dark spot on James’ shirt was still there, but less noticeable. 

James gave Albus a thanks. “Well, now that I’m out I suppose you two could do better with this information than me.”

“What information?”

James gestured for Cora and Albus to lean in closer. “There’s word going around that someone is bombing people.”

“Bombing?” Albus asked. 

“That’s the term everyone’s using,” James said. “People are opening their textbooks or going in their bags and there’s a note inside that says they’ve been bombed. And that’s it. They’re out of the game.”

Cora’s eyes were wide. “Genius.”

“Is that allowed?”

James shrugged. “It’s been working, so the officials are allowing it. Three people in the last two days have been eliminated that way. No one knows who’s doing it either.”

If there were any other details about these bombings, James wasn’t able to give them because it was time for everyone to get to class. Albus walked in silence while his thoughts were consumed by this new revelation. Someone being able to slip notes into bags and textbooks, and one simple action suddenly put them out of the game. And they were doing it well, if they were able to take out three people and if the eliminations didn’t happen during a class period. 

Albus stepped into the History of Magic classroom and stopped abruptly in his tracks. 

He stared at the back of Scorpius’ head. He was struck by the most familiar white-blond hair, the slight curl at the ends of his hair that appeared when Scorpius’ hair started to get long, his slight frame hiding within the thick black cloak. Albus pushed those thoughts aside, and from here he could tell that Scorpius was flipping to the exact page they’d left off on last class, as he always did so he’d be prepared when the class started. Albus knew Scorpius inside and out, and he knew this in this moment too.

Scorpius was the textbook bomber.

The secrecy the last few days, rushing out of the Great Hall, it had to be it. Scorpius was the genius behind this.

Next to Scorpius, where Albus always sat, was a History of Magic textbook.

Albus finally walked up to their desk. Scorpius looked up and smiled at Albus before patting the textbook next to him. “You left this in the dormitory.”

Scorpius had Albus as a target.

Albus slowly lowered himself into his seat. He refused to touch his book. He kept his gaze on Scorpius, who was still so casually flipping through his own notebook. There was a slight flush to Scorpius’ cheeks.

Professor Binns called the class to order and began his lecture. Albus still didn’t move. He didn’t even want to touch the desk. He just switched his gaze between the book and Scorpius.

Scorpius ended up noticing. A few minutes into the lecture, Scorpius leaned closer to Albus. “Are you okay?”

Albus’ chest began to flutter, and he took that as a sign that he was right. “I’m sick, I have to go,” he mumbled quickly, grabbing his things and rushing out of the classroom.

Albus didn’t know what his plan was, so he went straight for the Slytherin dormitory. It was, of course, completely empty save for the merpeople floating lazily past the porthole windows. Albus practically threw the History of Magic textbook onto his bed and stood several steps away from it. For several minutes he didn’t do anything besides clench and unclench his fists while his insides buzzed. 

He had to do something. He wasn’t going down like this. 

Albus finally grabbed his book, upturned it, and shook it vigorously. If he could get the note out and throw it away, the kill couldn’t count. Albus kept shaking and turning the book over in his hands.

Except nothing fell out.

Albus dropped the textbook to the floor. Okay. So maybe Scorpius didn’t have him as a target. Or he didn’t have Albus as a target right now. He might not even be the mysterious bomber but that didn’t mean Albus could let his guard down. 

Albus must’ve lost track of time, because soon the door opened and Scorpius stepped into the room. 

Albus jumped, and took a step back. “What are you doing here?”

While Scorpius stayed in his spot at the threshold, his gray eyes were wide and he leaned forward slightly. “I’m checking on you. I knew if you were sick you wouldn’t go to the hospital wing.”

Albus felt a clench in his chest. Of course Scorpius would know that Albus wouldn’t go to the hospital wing if he was sick. He could probably tell that Albus wasn’t actually feeling sick at all right now. 

“Are you okay?”

Albus was suddenly struck with the image of Scorpius putting a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it as Scorpius led him to bed. They could spend the whole day alone in here, just together and no one else. 

“We’re competitors, Scorpius!” 

Albus’ sudden burst made Scorpius startle. “Uh, Albus—“

“We can’t...we’re competing against each other!” Albus repeated lamely. “How do I know you don’t have me as a target right now?”

“We can’t say who our targets are anymore.”

“That makes it even worse!” Words were pouring out of Albus without him even thinking of them. Meanwhile, Scorpius’ eyes were squinting. One eye always went slightly squintier than the other, Albus had always noticed when Scorpius was confused. And Scorpius started to _smile_ which only annoyed Albus.

“Albus, really…”

“I want to win this game, Scorpius,” Albus snapped.

Albus was completely taken aback when Scorpius actually started _laughing_ at him.

“Whatever happened to ‘ _I’m not that competitive_ ’?” Scorpius gave a little dance with his shoulders as he inflected his voice in an obvious tease.

“That was before I had a real chance of winning!” Albus retorted. Somewhere in the back of his brain he knew he was being ridiculous. But it was too far back for him to make sense of it.

“Fine then, Potter the Competitive,” Scorpius grinned, making Albus’ insides squirm. “We are competitors, this is true. So this conversation sounds like you want us to stay away from each other. Fine. I wouldn’t want you eliminating me either, so. See you later.” Scorpius started to move, but paused. “Unless you actually want to walk to Herbology together so we’re not late?”

“Go right ahead. I’ll see you there.”

“Fine.” Scorpius was still grinning when he left.

Albus kicked his mess of a History textbook under his bed, grabbed his things once again, and left the dorm himself a few minutes later. 

He was, of course, late to Herbology and got a very disapproving look from Professor Longbottom. He specifically put himself on the opposite side of the greenhouse from Scorpius. And several times throughout the lesson their eyes would meet. Scorpius was _still_ giving Albus that same sly grin. Albus was right, it was better for his chances in the game that he stay away from Scorpius.

So why was there a part of him that really didn’t like this idea?

* * *

“Now, I’ve come to understand that many of you are excited about the end of the year. And many of you are using this excitement to bend the rules of decorum throughout the day. While I can appreciate everyone wanting to use the remainder of the term to enjoy themselves, I must remind everyone that school is still in session, and I implore everyone to still focus on their studies.”

The Great Hall remained in silence for several moments after Professor McGonagall finished her speech. Vague as it was, everyone in that hall knew she was talking about Assassins. The students would’ve been stupid to think that none of the staff would know about it. There was enough nonsense going on in the halls from the game every day. The Headmistress must’ve not had any proof, or any way to shut down the game. This announcement was her best effort.

Soon enough, dinner appeared before them and the hall slowly filled with its usual evening chatter. 

“Told you I wasn’t a snitch,” Cora said.

McGonagall’s speech may have mostly been inspired by Cora herself. In the hall between classes just earlier that day, Cora had gotten blindsided by the Ravenclaw Ander, when he jabbed his wand into her back to seal her elimination from the game. It only pissed Cora off, and she ended up shouting his name down the hall and chasing him, right into the presence of the Headmistress. 

They were both later called to McGonagall’s office to explain themselves. Conveniently for Albus, the name _Ander Reyes_ had been on his coin for a few days. He waited behind a suit of armor for Ander to come out of the office, and as soon as he did, Albus fired off a leg-locker curse at him. 

Cora may have walked away from all of that with a detention, but she was thrilled that Albus had “avenged” her. And apparently, neither she nor Ander had told McGonagall about the game.

“I never said you would be a snitch,” Albus replied.

So, the game was still on. Cora was out, but Albus was still in. And as far as he knew, Scorpius was still in the game too. It had been a few days since their little confrontation in the dorm. Since then Albus had been watching Scorpius a lot from afar. 

Like right now, Albus’ head was turned to the end of the Slytherin table, where Scorpius was chatting away with their friend Craig. Scorpius looked like his usual, happy self. Albus could tell he and Craig were going back and forth, and he’d see Scorpius rambling away on some kind of topic like he usually did. Occasionally one or both of them would laugh at something, and it really unnerved something deep in Albus. He wanted to know exactly what they were talking about, what topic this time was making Scorpius go off on one of his signature rambles, what was making the corners of Scorpius’ mouth turn up in a smile…

“Oh my God, quit this nonsense and go talk to Scorpius again.”

Cora was glaring at Albus. This wasn’t the first time either. She called him stupid when he told her a couple days ago that he’d be avoiding Scorpius.

“I’m not risking my chances of winning.”

Cora rolled her eyes. “If I have to sit around watching you pine over your best friend for the rest of this game, I’m going to lose it.”

Albus suddenly choked on his drink, nearly spitting it out on his plate. “Wh-what? I’m not! I’m not-- I don’t even…”

Cora wasn’t bothered by Albus’ stammering. “I appreciate the dedication to Assassins, but I’m going to call you stupid again for thinking you can stay away from _Scorpius_ of all people.”

Of course Albus could stay away from Scorpius. The game was at stake. And they were just friends. Friends spent time apart all the time. They did it every summer and holiday break. Nevermind the letters they sent back and forth every three days like clockwork.

He didn’t say much through the rest of dinner. He had plenty of different ways to say he was fine staying away from Scorpius, but none of them he spoke aloud. 

Albus shuffled down to the Slytherin common room with the rest of his house, people buzzing around him about McGonagall’s speech, and who was left in the game. The numbers were going down, they were close to only a single-digit number of players left. 

The Slytherins settled into their usual places for the evening, taking up their respective favorite spots on the couches or at the table. Out of habit, Albus started to go right for the big window at the back. A couch was positioned under the window, and it was the perfect place for him and Scorpius to stay out of the thick of the Slytherin common room antics, get some homework done, and watch the creatures in the lake swim by. 

But Albus stopped himself when he saw Scorpius already there, sitting sideways on the couch with his legs tucked underneath him while he was reading a book. 

Scorpius may have felt someone staring at him, because he looked up, right at Albus. There was a softness in his eyes that made Albus’ insides turn. 

No, he couldn’t walk over there and sit down, as much as he really wanted to. He could do his Potions homework elsewhere.

Potions… Albus realized he’d left his Potions book in the classroom earlier. He abruptly turned and exited the Slytherin common room, making his way through the dungeons. It was a blessing their dormitory was so close by.

Luckily the classroom was unlocked. Albus stepped inside and went to his usual seat. Lucky again, his book on the floor beside the chair. When he crouched down to pick it up, he heard a faint scrape of something against the stone floor. 

Albus froze. Another scrape happened again, this time a little shorter. From his position, still crouched on the floor, he watched a shadow slowly get closer to him, as someone took a few steps into the room. He could tell even from the shadow’s silhouette, the billow of a Hogwarts robe, that it was a student. A professor would’ve announced themselves or walked through the classroom. This person was clearly waiting for Albus. 

Someone was trying to eliminate Albus right now.

Albus slowly grabbed his book with one hand, and pulled his wand out of his robes with the other.

Albus moved quickly. He shot himself to his feet and turned around in an instant, jabbing his wand toward the person and shouting “ _expelliarmus!”_

An object flew out of the student’s hand and disappeared, the sound of something metal clattering across the floor the only thing filling the seconds of silence afterwards. The student, partially hit by Albus’ spell, was also knocked backwards into a desk. 

The adrenaline of the moment made Albus not recognize who it was at first. Until he caught his breath and could assess it. Yann Fredericks was still supporting himself on the desk, his red tie eschew around his neck, and he was as shocked as Albus was.

Finally, Yann smirked. “So you do take a bit after your dad, don’t you?”

Albus didn’t know how to respond to that. So he stumbled toward the door, his wand still pointed at Yann until he was out of the Potions classroom and running. He kept his wand in hand as he made his escape, tearing through the dungeons like his life depended on it. But he didn’t hear Yann follow after him. Still, he refused to slow down. When he made it back, he practically yelled the password and tripped his way into the crowded Slytherin common room. 

Nearly every set of eyes fell on Albus while he was panting in the entryway. Cora sat in an armchair nearby. “What happened to you?”

“Yann Fredericks has me as his target.”

Several Slytherins said a “ _what”_ in response. They circled around him as he sat on the nearest couch, and he recounted what had just happened in the Potions classroom. 

“You shouldn’t have gone there by yourself, Albus,” Cora said hotly. 

“What else was I supposed to do?” Albus snapped. Cora would’ve laughed at him anyway if he asked her to accompany him to get his book.

“What’s your plan, Albus?” A second year asked him. 

Albus looked around at his fellow housemates, the same question in their eyes while they were looking at him. “I have no idea,” he sighed. Despite never having a ton of loyalty to his housemates besides his closest friends, he felt like he was letting everyone down. “I can’t do anything besides avoid him. I don’t have him as a target myself.”

“Well you’re not giving up, that’s for sure,” a sixth year girl said.

A fourth year procured the parchment with the Assassins rules on it. “It’s possible you get a twelve-hour grace period,” he said, skimming the page through thick glasses. “‘If a target stops their own elimination, the killer must wait twelve hours before they can try again. The killer’s coin will glow red during this period _.’_ You didn’t happen to see Yann’s coin when you were there?”

“No.”

“So you need to avoid Yann until the end of the week or until he gets eliminated himself,” Cora said. “We can’t have a Gryffindor winning this game.”

The other Slytherins around him seemed to agree. If anything could really unite Slytherins, it was the idea of defeating someone from their rival house. So much for the rivalry dying down in the last twenty years. A bunch of idiots playing Assassins were enough to reignite it. 

Albus glanced over at the big window in the back. Sure enough, Scorpius was still there, legs tucked underneath him, a small lock of hair falling over one eye. Scorpius met Albus’ eyes too, and held the gaze for several moments.

* * *

Albus went to breakfast the next morning with a small clan of Slytherins at his back. 

Cora saying “we can’t let a Gryffindor win” certainly had flipped a switch in their housemates. Suddenly Assassins was like the House Cup. Even Slytherins who teased Albus years ago for being the odd-Potter-out were now rallying around Albus. It was the weirdest feeling ever. And didn’t help the newfound stress of thinking he couldn’t let them down.

Cora was, as usual, with him. But joining their walk to breakfast was a small handful of other Slytherins. They didn’t acknowledge Albus beyond sleepy ‘hellos’ and walked ahead or behind him and Cora several steps. Watching out for their player but not making it obvious. 

Albus tried looking for Scorpius in the dormitory and at breakfast that morning, but he was nowhere to be found. He wanted more than anything right now to just sit with Scorpius and talk. Or not even talk, just sit and read, or eat, anything. He just longed for the presence of his best friend. 

But he couldn’t do even that.

Yann was sitting at the Gryffindor table with his group of friends. His eyes were narrowed in an expression of disdain as he watched Albus take a seat at the Slytherin table. Cora sat herself between Yann and Albus, blocking line of sight, while other Slytherins sat close by. Even without this potential twelve-hour grace period, his housemates weren’t taking any chances. 

Polly Chapman sat across from Yann. She spoke loud enough for Albus to hear. “Didn’t go as planned last night, did it?” 

Yann scoffed. “That’s not going to stop me. I’m not letting the Slytherin Squib beat me.”

Albus clenched his fist on the table as he bit the inside of his cheek. For a moment he felt like he was eleven years old again, listening to the very same boy taunt him in classes. Albus had mostly shaken that stupid nickname over the years. Of course its creator would bring it right back to get right under Albus’ skin. 

Albus would prove Yann wrong. He’d prove every smirking Gryffindor wrong. And every person in this school who thought he couldn’t do it.

Albus averted his gaze in an attempt to zone out whatever else Yann would have to say. At the end of the Slytherin table was Scorpius. How long ago had Scorpius walked in and Albus hadn’t even noticed?

Scorpius was staring at something with his “figuring out a problem” expression that Albus enjoyed so much. Albus followed Scorpius’ eyes, only to see Scorpius had also been watching Yann. Great, now he knew that Yann’s voice could carry. Albus thought of all the times in first and second year they’d sit down together, and they’d come up with silly nicknames for Yann whenever Yann had been a prick to them. They’d laugh away the insults in the privacy of their own conversation, a preferred method of catharsis for them. Yann the Un-Original was a Scorpius creation, and Albus’ favorite.

But Albus stayed where he was and sulked through the rest of breakfast. 

Albus was safer in class, where he’d spend an hour in a sense of relaxation of the safe zones. But in between he’d be looking around constantly, looking out for Yann. Though he always had Cora and at least one other Slytherin with him, it only eased his nerves slightly. Meanwhile he noticed Scorpius spent a lot of time flipping through a textbook and scribbling on pieces of parchment. Albus had to wonder if that was even classwork Scorpius was working on or not. Even later on in Ancient Runes, Albus caught Scorpius with his wand under the table, moving it around as he mumbled something to himself.

Albus couldn’t figure out what Scorpius was up to, but he pushed the thoughts away when the lunch hour came around. 

Cora was still right at his side. Albus loved her, but he was already getting sick of her constant presence. If he had to endure several days of constantly having a housemate around him, maybe it would be fine to have Yann eliminate him instead.

“You’d think he’d try something by now,” Cora muttered to Albus. Her gaze was trained on Yann, who sat with a handful of friends at the Gryffindor table. Albus had also been quick to notice Scorpius also sitting at the Gryffindor table, across from Rose. 

“Maybe he did and he fucked it again,” Albus replied. Though it didn’t really hold up. Yann hadn’t been anywhere near Albus all morning, and there were no notes or anything like that in his belongings. “You heard him, he’s not letting this Slytherin Squib get the better of him,” he muttered bitterly.

Albus reached for a goblet of pumpkin juice, only for Cora to quickly reach over and grab it from his hand. “What the hell?”

Cora took a sip of it and nodded. “Okay, you’re good.” She slid it back to Albus. When he gave her an incredulous look, she held up her hands. “Can’t be too careful. Hot sauce in a drink is a fairly popular tactic in the muggle games.”

Albus grabbed the goblet again while he kept an eye on Yann across the hall, who was casually snacking on a bowl of grapes. 

“Who has Yann as a target?” Cora asked. “We could bug them to get a move on already.”

Albus shook his head. “We can’t say who our targets are anymore. We’d never find them.”

“You could hide in the hospital wing for the week. I’ll break your arm if you need me to.”

Albus pulled his arms off of the table. “No.” The thing with Cora was that, if prompted she would actually do it. “I still have someone I have to eliminate myself. I can’t do that if I’m hiding in the hospital wing.”

Albus’ best course of action was to wait. Wait and hope Yann got taken out soon. Avoid him as much as possible. Tolerate his volunteer Slytherin bodyguards. Try to find a time to eliminate his next target. And hope this all turned out in his favor. 

He’d come too far to be out for the count now. 

His thoughts were cut off when a sudden whistling sound pierced the hall. Several students gasped and startled. Albus and Cora both jumped as well.

In the middle of the hall, white steam was pouring out of Yann Frederick’s ears. His face and neck had gone bright red, and his eyes were squeezed shut while the steam rocketed out of his head for several seconds. 

When the steam finally stopped, Yann blinked his eyes open, though the redness in his face took its time retreating back to normal. Everyone in the hall was staring at Yann and several giggles and shouts at him rang through. But he seemed not to hear them. Albus could see Yann muttering “no, no” as he fumbled for something in his pocket. Yann eventually pulled out his dull, gray coin. 

“DAMN IT!” Yann slammed his fist on the table, making the entire thing shake. The noise nearly made everyone in the hall jump again. Rose and Scorpius even grabbed their plates and goblets to keep them from making a mess.

“Mister Fredericks!” Professor Bauer strode her way down the aisle right for Yann. He blanched at her. “A word?” She wasn’t taking no for an answer, and more muffled laughter echoed around the Great Hall as Yann was marched out with the Professor. 

Albus’ dropped jaw slowly turned up in a grin of triumph. Cora grabbed Albus’ arm and shook it. “Yann’s out!”

Yann was out. He was really out of the game! This wasn’t even Albus’ doing and yet he felt a swell of pride blossom in his chest. He was still in this, and among the final tributes now. 

He felt like he could breathe again. Maybe not for long, but he would enjoy this moment. Along with everyone else here enjoying the excitement. He even saw Scorpius smiling at what had just happened.

The end of this game was really in sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments, kudos, etc. as always are very much appreciated! :) Final chapter coming soon!  
> Find me on twitter @truexmeg and on tumblr @truemeg


	4. Chapter 4

“What happened to not spending time with me anymore?”

Albus stared into Scorpius’ eyes. They were sparkling with a sense of eagerness, and Scorpius was doing that thing where he was leaning forward slightly in barely-contained anticipation. Even when Scorpius’ expression was nothing but a set seriousness, it was like his body betrayed him in this one sense. He eagerly awaited answers and responses. And Albus loved that about him. 

“I can’t just not spend time with you,” Albus said. “Enough with this stupid game! I’m done with it.”

Scorpius reached for Albus’ hand. 

Albus’ eyes opened, his breath hitching. He blinked a few times, slowly getting back to his surroundings as he woke up. His cheek was sunk into his pillow, he was looking at the deep green curtains hanging around his bed. And very oddly, the hand that Scorpius had reached for in his dream felt warmer than the other.

It was just a dream, he assured himself. Though his chest was still fluttering at what he’d just seen in it. Being unable to stay away from Scorpius and unable to contain that feeling anymore. Saying he was done with this game. And Scorpius taking his hand.

It had to be because of stress. Sure, he missed being around Scorpius all the time. And part of him was looking forward to the game being over and things could go back to normal with him and Scorpius. But he wanted this win. And, of course it was a stress dream because Scorpius would never hold his hand like that in real life. And Albus certainly wouldn’t like it as much as he did in the dream. The fact that Albus was still thinking of that image right now was just because he was still waking up, and for no other reason at all. 

It was Friday. Albus was eager to lose himself in the easy day ahead of him. A few classes that didn’t really matter because exams were over. Double Potions this afternoon, so extra time for his favorite subject. 

And the game was finally at the final players. He could win this soon.

As he went through his day, Albus still had some Slytherins around him, though they were notably less aggressive with their need to protect him. Since the Yann Fredericks incident had ended, they’d laid off a lot. Still, they were rooting for a win. And many of them relished in the fact that Yann had gotten a detention for his little outburst in the Great Hall a couple days before. 

He was breathing easier. Somehow it was easier not knowing who had him as their target. And he had his own target, and a plan for eliminating them. 

A plan that he would execute later that evening. 

Until then, he went about his day as normal. Class, meals, catching Scorpius’ eye several times throughout the day. It was weirder today, after Albus’ strange dream. Every time he made eye contact with Scorpius he felt a heat rise up in his veins, all over his body. And the image of Scorpius taking his hand would appear as well. Every single time. 

Maybe he had to admit to himself how much he was missing Scorpius. His easy presence, his smile, his ramblings of knowledge that Albus sometimes wouldn’t understand but he’d listen all the same. Maybe admitting this would help sort out Albus’ thoughts. 

_You liked the hand-holding too_. The thought popped up suddenly. Albus was shocked his brain would think that, and he quickly pushed it away. It was just his brain exaggerating because he missed Scorpius that much.

Albus shoved his thoughts to the side though, because classes for the week finally ended and dinner was over. Albus made his way to the Gryffindor common room. 

He strode up to the Fat Lady and told her he was looking for someone inside, and that it was really important and couldn’t wait. Once the Fat Lady disappeared from her portrait, Albus flattened himself against the wall, wand at the ready. He’d have maybe half a second of a head start over his target when they came out of the portrait hole. He’d have to get this timing perfect or it was a lost cause. 

A couple minutes later, the portrait hole opened. Sure enough his target, none other than Rose herself, came out into the hall. Her head turned at him just as Albus pointed his wand at her. “ _Aguamenti!_ ” 

At the very last second, however, both James and Hugo also stepped out of the portrait hole. And the water spawned from Albus’ wand hit not only Rose right in the face, but also slammed into James and Hugo. 

James’ yell echoed through the hall. Hugo’s hands went straight to his face as if he could swat the water out of his eyes. Rose, meanwhile, stood like she’d been hit with a body-bind curse. Her shoulders were scrunched up to her neck, her mouth wide open while water dripped from her hair and chin. 

The commotion of it quickly pulled a crowd of Gryffindors from the common room to see what the excitement was. 

James got his wet hair out of his face. “Albus! What the hell was that for?”

“No!” Rose practically screeched. Her now-gray coin fell to the floor and rolled several feet away. “No! No! Albus I was so close to winning! I was ready for this and everything! _Albus!_ ”

Albus stood frozen, his wand still up while he watched the messy outcome of his own actions on his family.

Surprisingly, Hugo was laughing. “Fair is fair, Rosie,” he said. “Nice one, Al.”

“It wasn’t a _nice one_! Don’t root for him!” Rose swatted Hugo’s shoulder, only getting angrier when her little brother laughed even harder. 

Albus wanted to internally celebrate his latest elimination, but he was slightly afraid of the crowd of Gryffindors watching the scene. All of them were probably pissed that Rose was now out. 

“Albus you _suck_ ,” Rose yelled as she wiped more water from her eyes. 

“Are all the Gryffindors really out of the game now?” Piped up a young Gryffindor while she also glared at Albus. One of her older housemates was quick to confirm her question. 

“Really?” Albus asked. All of the Gryffindor players were out? He knew Rose was one of the final players still left, but the idea that everyone from one house was now out was big information.

Some of the Gryffindors tried to say that Albus must’ve cheated, or that the elimination couldn’t count for whatever reason. Though none of their cries stuck, Albus wasn’t keen on keeping himself around here much longer.

James beat him to the sentiment. “Better leave now, _Slytherin_ ,” he said. Any of the Gryffindors would think he was saying it out of annoyance, but Albus knew he didn’t mean it. 

“Hugo just said ‘fair is fair!” Albus quipped. 

“Yeah but that doesn’t mean we’re _happy_ about it!” James retorted. He waved his arms at his housemates, ushering the pissed-off students back into their common room while Albus started walking away. Before Albus completely turned away, James cracked Albus a smile. 

Albus started back in the direction of the dungeons with a renowned sense of thrill. He’d eliminated Rose of all people, and walked away from some pissy Gryffindors without a scratch. And he was closer to the end of this game.

Albus took his coin out of his pocket. Instead of a name, a simple message greeted him: _Final Two._

Final two. _Final two!_ Albus really was at the end of this! One more person in his way and he was the winner! He’d done it. The end was within his reach.

Albus ran his thumb over the words, savoring the moment while silently willing for the final name to appear. The sooner the better. He wanted to claim his victory as soon as possible.

He didn’t wait long. He didn’t even make it to the main staircase before the two words disappeared. And just after that, the name of his final target. When it did appear, Albus had to reach out and hold himself up against the wall to keep himself from falling.

 _Scorpius Malfoy_.

* * *

Albus stood in the hall there for what felt like several long minutes, doing nothing except staring at the name on his coin. The temperature in the halls must have increased just this second, because Albus’ jumper suddenly felt stifling. He fidgeted with his sleeve with his free hand, but his brain was entirely encompassed with the name now on his coin. 

_Scorpius_.

How stupid of him. In all the excitement of the last couple days -- the Yann Fredericks ordeal, making sure to eliminate Rose, getting into the finals of the game -- he’d almost completely forgotten that Scorpius was even playing. He’d been in this game all along! So long, in fact, that now it was the two of them about to go into this final showdown. 

This had to be karma, for avoiding Scorpius for the past several days. 

He had no idea how to handle this. After all this effort, and now the idea of eliminating Scorpius felt like it was too much. Like it would be the hardest thing in the world. And on top of that, Scorpius also had him as a target too. 

“On your way now, boy! It’s getting late!”

Albus jumped when the man in the painting next to him spoke in a gruff, thick Scottish accent. The man shook his head at Albus, mumbling something about “kids” before stalking out of frame.

Well, the painting was right about one thing, it was late. Too late to do anything about Assassins tonight. Albus shoved his coin back into his pocket, telling himself that he could sort this all out tomorrow. Saturday. All day to himself to figure things out. A good night’s sleep would help him as well. 

Albus took one step down the stairs and froze again. Going to bed now meant being in the same room as Scorpius. All night. All night being vulnerable to his competition. That was way too much of a risk. He needed to buy himself time…

Albus turned right back around and went back to the Gryffindor common room.

The Fat Lady wasn’t at all pleased to see him again, and chastised Albus for the disturbance he’d created here just a few moments ago. It took a bit of convincing that he wasn’t up to no good again. Finally though, she left to retrieve James for him. 

James thoroughly laughed at Albus and his current predicament. But eventually, he agreed to let Albus spend the night in the Gryffindor dormitory. 

The walk through their common room was probably the worst moment of his life. The looks of disdain from the Gryffindors were ruthless, and very fresh. Clearly five minutes wasn’t nearly enough time for them to forget his winning moment out in the hall. On any normal day he hated people staring at him, now he was walking right into it. Albus felt a bit of guilt creep in his stomach, even despite the fact that he didn’t regret it. He ducked his head and followed closely behind James up to the seventh year boys dormitory. 

Albus slept on the floor of the Gryffindor dorm that night. He woke up to a lot of very sore muscles and joints that really weren’t happy. Even though he was awake, he didn’t get up. He lay there, listening to the unfamiliar sounds of Gryffindor Tower: birds chirping at the windows, flaps of owl’s wings, the light whistle of the high breeze. Far cry from the laps of lake water and faint songs of the merpeople that he was so used to in the Slytherin dormitory. But, the Slytherin dormitory was where his enemy was.

Enemy. Literally the last word in existence he’d ever use to describe Scorpius. Albus even made himself laugh at how dramatic the thought even was. Scorpius was the kindest person in the world.

Except, Albus had to remind himself that Scorpius had _also_ made it this far in the game. He’d had his own successful eliminations. And he hadn’t told Albus about _any_ of it, even found it rather amusing when Albus decided they needed to stay away from each other. 

Albus couldn’t underestimate Scorpius. 

And he couldn’t wait around forever. This game would end soon. Albus had to end it. And if he wanted to win, he’d have to catch someone who knew nearly everything about him by surprise.

Albus scrambled up and furiously shook his brother awake. “James!”

“Oh my _God_ , what _now_?!” James yelled, thwacking Albus with a pillow as he turned over.

“I need to borrow something.”

* * *

Albus was sure he looked like a wild sight: his hair a mess, the same rumpled green jumper and black jeans he’d been wearing since last night, and a big hunk of a plastic water gun slung over his shoulder. All this added up to quite a few odd looks as he stalked through the castle halls. Shocked expressions and craned necks followed him as he went. But he ignored everyone. 

Everyone knew what he was about to do too. Footsteps followed behind him, and multiplied as he went.

Albus went right out the front doors of the castle and through the courtyard. It was a clear and warm day. Fine weather and perfect timing for his plan. On Saturday mornings in the spring, Scorpius got up early to help Hagrid feed the bowtruckles. Scorpius would be distracted and not expect Albus to walk up with a water gun. 

Albus was halfway down the hill. Hagrid’s hut was close, and he could see from this distance that Hagrid was bustling around his garden. And there was no obvious sight of blonde hair down there with him. Albus slowed his pace, letting the water gun drop to his side.

“Looking for someone?”

Albus pulled up the gun again, spinning to his left as the tall bushes next to him rustled, and from behind them came the source of the voice. Scorpius appeared with his wand raised and pointed at Albus.

There they were, standing in the middle of the Hogwarts grounds, weapons of choice pointed at each other though they stood just out of range to make their move count. Albus with his disheveled appearance, Scorpius much more put together though he had a stray leaf stuck to his hair. He was smiling too. So much for that element of surprise Albus had thoroughly hoped for. Scorpius was one step ahead of him. 

“Where were you last night?” Scorpius asked. A casual question with a guarded tone. Scorpius was just as ready as Albus was to strike.

Albus’ eyes narrowed. For now he was safe where he was, just out of range of any magic Scorpius could throw his way, but also probably out of whatever range his gun had too. A stalemate. “Keeping myself safe from you.”

Scorpius laughed. Albus’ heart was beating rapidly in his chest. 

“Fair enough. I don’t think you expected to be facing me of all people in the final, right?”

Albus faltered slightly. Scorpius took a step forward, and Albus recovered in time to take the same step backwards. “No, I didn’t actually. You never talked about what you were doing.”

“You were the one who reminded us that we were competitors. Then you said we couldn’t be around each other.”

“I had reason to, clearly,” Albus said, though there was something in Scorpius’ voice in his last comment. Albus pushed it aside to focus. “How did you make it to the final two?”

“I was inspired by Cora. Modus operandi. I was given a nickname and everything! Bombing people,” he said excitedly.

Albus’ hold on the gun dropped slightly. “That was you?” So he’d been right! Scorpius was the bomber all along. Even if he never had Albus as a target until now, Albus had been right. If only he hadn’t completely forgotten about it.

“I’m not proud of how I accessed everyone’s school schedules and the professors’ lesson plans,” Scorpius said. “But once I did I went backwards from there. Figure out what chapter everyone is on in their next class, levitate a note into their textbook on the exact page. Or into their bag, which isn’t as exciting. And the next time they opened their book or reached into their bag... Did no one else think of doing that?”

Albus was stunned still. “Of course not. That’s uniquely Scorpius.”

Scorpius straightened his shoulders, filled with pride. “I thought you would’ve said that about how I eliminated Yann.”

“That was _you_?”

Scorpius still had a wide grin still overtaking his face. “I transfigured pepper imps.”

Utterly brilliant. Everything Albus had done felt like nothing compared to Scorpius’ accomplishments. But he still had a chance. One final chance. 

Albus made a quick glance to his left. Sure enough, students were in the courtyard up the hill, as well as looking out the castle windows watching this standoff. Meanwhile, his arms were starting to tremble.

“I came here to win,” Albus said, looking back at Scorpius.

“And you think I’m just here for a good time?”

“That’s what you said at the beginning!” Albus said. “This was just for fun.”

“You said the same thing!” Scorpius inched forward, a smile still cracked across his face.

Albus scrunched up his face. Frustration was bubbling around inside of him. From this stalemate they were in, from their rather casual conversation while they stood poised for attacks, from Scorpius’ adorably bright expression. His arms were trembling much more now. 

He had to end this now.

Without thinking of it, Albus quickly advanced at the same time he squeezed the trigger on the water gun. In his haste, his foot caught in the grass, making him stumble slightly. He didn’t see if the stream of water had hit home. And in the half second that Albus regained his footing, in the edge of his vision he saw something bright red burst from the end of Scorpius’ wand and Albus was suddenly slammed in the chest.

Albus fell backwards into the grass, his breath being knocked out of him. The gun flew out of his grip, and Albus was left with wide eyes, looking up at the clear blue sky and stunned to stillness. 

“Albus! Albus are you okay?” Scorpius’ frantic voice pulled him into the moment again. Scorpius appeared over him and he felt Scorpius’ hand on his shoulder. His gray eyes were filled with concern and his figure silhouetted by the beautiful, bright sun overhead.

Utterly brilliant.

Albus sucked in a breath again. “I’m fine.” His voice came out as a rasp while his lungs attempted to resume function. It was a little difficult with Scorpius still so close to him.

“What just happened?” Albus asked as Scorpius guided him into a sitting position. His gaze met Scorpius’ gaze for a moment of realization. Then they both scrambled for their pockets and pulled out their coins at the same time. While Albus’ coin had turned gray, Scorpius’ coin was that coveted green hue.

Scorpius had won.

* * *

Albus wore his blue hoodie with the stripes. He didn’t know how to dress for Hogwarts parties, but he couldn’t bring himself to change into anything else. He felt like his body had been completely drained of energy since this morning. A sense of adrenaline had driven him through Assassins and now that it was over he needed to rest. Rest up in some comfy clothing.

He kept thinking of how it had ended. How immediately after, Scorpius helped him up and brushed grass off of his back, even kept his hand there while Albus doubled over still trying to catch his breath. A gang of their friends and Albus’ family tore down the lawn and launched themselves at Scorpius while furiously asking both of them exactly what had happened. And when they all made it back up the hill they were greeted by crowds of cheering students, all cheering for Scorpius and telling Albus it was a good effort. Somewhere in all of it, the seventh years who’d organized it all officially declared Scorpius the winner, eliciting more cheers from the students. They also congratulated Albus for his second-place. Somewhere in the excitement, a party to celebrate was declared for that night in the Room of Requirement.

It was a blur of a day. 

“Albus?”

Albus looked up. Scorpius stood next to his own bed, wearing a simple cardigan over a striped t-shirt. Something caught in Albus’ throat.

“What do people wear to parties?” Scorpius asked.

Albus couldn’t help but laugh. “I have no idea. But you look good like that. I mean, it looks fine, more than fine. Good.” Albus ducked his head back into the graphic novel he’d been reading.

There was a pause before Scorpius spoke again. “Are you mad at me?”

Albus glanced up again. “No, of course not. Why would you think that?”

“You’ve been quiet all day.”

“It’s not...I’m not mad at you. At all.” Tiredness was part of his reclusiveness all day. The other part was because every time he looked at Scorpius since Scorpius appeared over him outside, Albus’ heart started pounding, and his cheeks would flood with heat. His mind would flash with images of not only that moment this morning, but also the dream Albus had just a couple nights prior. Things that had been swirling around inside him for a long time now were so much more present, and so much harder to ignore. Familiar yet intense and scary. And Albus was refusing to let his brain admit what that thing was. 

“You can be mad at me, I know how much you wanted to win,” Scorpius said. “I don’t regret winning obviously but I do feel a little bad if you’re mad about my spell hitting you…”

“No.” Albus tossed his book to the side and got up. “I’m not mad at you. Yes of course I wanted to win. But you won fair and square. And you did a damn good job.” Scorpius looked down as he smiled. Albus placed his hands on Scorpius’ shoulders. “Enjoy it.”

Their eyes met again, and the two lingered in that moment for several long seconds. Until Albus pulled his hands away. “Ready to go to _your_ party?”

“Please don’t call it that,” Scorpius laughed. 

And off they went, all the way up to the seventh floor. That thing inside of Albus was still poking at him. On a quick impulse, he decided to test its boundaries. Albus threw his arm around Scorpius’ shoulders as they walked. Scorpius will just think that it was something companionable. The feeling in Albus fluttered around even more when Albus felt Scorpius lean in closer under his arm, and he could see Scorpius’ cheeks flushed with pink. 

It was a hike up to the seventh floor. When they were just a few halls away, they happened upon Rose and Lily also on their way. Lily was quick to throw her arms around Scorpius in a big hug, forcing Albus to pull away from his friend. 

“I saw it all happen from Ravenclaw Tower!” Lily smiled. “It’s high up so we couldn’t see everything but most of it! You did great, Scorpius!”

“That was excellent,” Rose added, shoving herself in between Albus and Scorpius. “Of course, It could have been _us_ going against each other in the final. But _someone_ ruined that.”

“I beat you fair and square, Rose,” Albus said.

“Sorry, I don’t know you right now.” Rose linked her arm with Scorpius and continued walking down the hall. Albus rolled his eyes. He wouldn’t be surprised if she would be bitter about this all summer.

“I hope the seventh years aren’t too occupied at the party. I need to ask them more about how they organized this game,” Lily said, even producing a tiny notepad from her pocket.

“Oh! Good idea!” Rose said. “I’ll join you. We need to make sure this happens again next year!”

A handful of students were crowded in the hallway outside the entrance to the Room of Requirement. And even from outside, Albus could hear the roar of the party. Inside it was filled with what was probably every Hogwarts student in a very enlarged version of a common room. Albus happened to notice that the corners of the room were moving, the room expanding to accommodate the mass of kids. It had also provided plenty of couches and tables around the room, an overflow of food and drinks, fireplaces on each wall, as well as a massive stain-glass window on the opposite wall that surely overlooked the grounds and surrounding forest. Hundreds of candles hovered overhead, giving the place a very warm, flickering atmosphere. 

The place erupted when the four of them walked in, all of it for the infamous Scorpius. Scorpius, who wasn’t used to that much attention, ducked his chin a little and his shoulders started curling in. He was smiling, nonetheless and was clearly proud of himself. 

Albus patted Scorpius on the back, which appeared to help his friend a little. 

Both of them were swept up in the bustle of the party. Everyone congratulated Scorpius on his win, several people commenting on how no one expected him of all people to make it far, let alone come out as the victor. Scorpius was pulled into several conversations where he got to ramble about how he accomplished it all.

Albus found himself staring a lot. Staring at Scorpius while caught up in his own head about how much of a genius Scorpius was. Not just for his gameplay but in every aspect of his life. The talent, the intelligence, his kindness.

That thing inside him was swirling around again, threatening to burst out of him.

Albus stood up from the couch they’d been sitting on and walked away. Scorpius was still occupied with conversation, so he was able to slip away easily. 

Albus got himself a goblet of juice and went for the only empty place in the room: the big window in the back. 

He was pleasantly surprised to see that it was more like an alcove, the window jutting out of the wall with a cushioned bench beneath it, complete with a couple of pillows and a velvet curtain outlining the whole thing. Albus grabbed a pillow and pulled it onto his lap as he sat down to gaze out the window. Through the stained glass he could see the quiet grounds, a gentle sway of the trees, and the beautiful array of stars above him. 

Actually, just below the window was the place where Scorpius had defeated him in Assassins. The scene replayed in his head. Well, as much of it as Albus could remember. It had all happened so fast, and he was sure there was a second or two in there that he blacked out. Still, it made him chuckle. He wasn’t lying when he said to Scorpius earlier that he wasn’t mad. Sure, he would’ve liked to win, he’d certainly worked hard enough to win. But he was proud of what he did. And more than happy that Scorpius had won in the end.

Something else was distracting Albus from this topic though. The feeling inside him that had been swirling around since Scorpius had won. Maybe longer, if Albus could admit it.

“Albus?”

Albus jumped. Scorpius stood next to him, activating that swirling, fluttering feeling in his stomach once again. “Hi.”

Scorpius sat on the bench, situating himself so he sat cross-legged and was facing Albus. “Are you okay? I noticed you walk away a little while ago,” he asked.

Albus looked down at his goblet of juice. “It’s fine. Party’s loud.” He gave a half-hearted chuckle.

“Yeah, it is.” Scorpius nodded. He then reached up and pulled the curtain, shutting off their window spot from the rest of the party. Somehow it worked to muffle the loud noise on the other side. It left them to themselves. “That’s better.”

Much better. 

“The party is loud and crowded but... I had fun playing Assassins,” Scorpius gave a huge grin.

“Oh I agree, completely,” Albus smiled, leaning forward slightly. “Definitely that fun mayhem we needed, right?”

“Definitely fun. Definitely mayhem.”

“Especially what you and I did today.”

“Yes. I think that whole thing definitely qualifies under both fun and mayhem.” Both of them laughed. Such an intense moment felt so ridiculous now. “Do you think you’ll participate in the mayhem next year? If it’s organized again.”

“Definitely.” Albus paused. “Except...that part where we stayed away from each other.”

Scorpius nodded slowly. “I didn’t much like that part either. At all.”

“I mean, I _was_ right,” Albus said.

“ _Partially_ ,” Scorpius interjected.

“But we’ll not do that next time.”

“I like that plan. Let’s go with that,” Scorpius nodded.

They both let themselves laugh a little bit more. As it trailed off, Scorpius wasn’t quite looking Albus in the eye. Then out of nowhere, he lifted his hand and let it rest on top of Albus’ hand. A beat passed between them as they sat like that, then something flashed in Scorpius’ eyes. 

Albus’ eyes were locked on his leg, where his hand had been resting, and which was now covered by Scorpius’ hand. Despite that feeling still inside him pumping at the contact, there was a familiarity in it. This was _Scorpius_ , his best friend. Everything about Scorpius was familiar and easy. Their conversations, their laughs, the mere presence. It was an ease he’d never encountered with anyone else before. But from their first time meeting on the train to right this second, something with them had just clicked and made everything between them so easy.

It was so easy to like Scorpius.

Albus slowly moved his hand, and turned it over. He could feel Scorpius start to take his hand away, but Albus gently clasped it in his own. 

The moment lingered, both of them completely still. Scorpius’ hand was soft in his, not quite grasping him back but his fingers ever so lightly curled around Albus’ hand. Albus’ grip was firm enough to make a statement, but gentle enough that Scorpius could pull away if he wanted to. Which he didn’t.

Albus’ brain seemed to catch up to itself and he fully realized what was happening. He scrunched up his face. “Um, I don’t know why I did that…”

“I rather like it,” Scorpius said in a gentle voice. “I um, started it, I suppose…”

They were much closer again, at some point both of them leaning forward more. 

Albus let his eyes trail up until they locked with Scorpius’. He could do it, lean into that feeling that had been in him for so long. But what if it was the wrong decision.

Albus noticed Scorpius lean forward at the same time he did, and the remaining distance between them was closed and their lips gently touched in a kiss. 

Beyond the warmth and the soft lips, there was a stiffness in it as well. Albus’ muscles strained from the awkward sitting position, and could feel the unease from Scorpius, matching his own. He gave Scorpius’ hand a gentle squeeze, and immediately felt Scorpius relax against him and he let himself do the same. It let him notice how soft Scorpius’ lips were, the warmth radiating off of Scorpius’ cheeks, even his friend’s hitched breath. As well as his own pounding heart.

It was only a couple seconds, but felt so much longer. Albus couldn’t say who pulled away first. Like the start of the kiss, the end came from both of them as well, leaving them still with locked gazes and hints of disbelief on both of their faces. 

“Uh…” Albus started. “Was that…”

“Yeah,” Scorpius replied quietly.

“That was...nice…” Albus gave a small smile. “I mean, did you…?”

“I liked it too,” Scorpius smiled.

Relief flooded over Albus. And that feeling inside him, the feelings for Scorpius, settled inside of him. 

The curtain was suddenly thrown open, making both of the boys jump out of their skin and pull away. 

“There you two are!” Rose exclaimed. It didn’t seem like she’d noticed a thing. “Don’t be hiding from anyone. Tonight is about celebrating!” 

Rose was certainly right there. They had a lot to celebrate. End of the year, surviving O.W.L.s, playing an immensely fun game, and Scorpius’ victory. But he and Scorpius were privately celebrating something else too. When they were pulled back into the party, their hands sought each other out. Nothing overt, but the private moments in the chaos where they could clasp together, or simply brush against each other. That was enough for tonight. 

In it all, Scorpius continued to get comments on his win. As did Albus, on his almost-win. Even a couple students calling it an outright loss. But Albus didn’t see it that way at all.

He was a winner all the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end! Thank you so much! I had a ton of fun writing this story and I hope you had just as much fun reading it! I appreciate every single comment/kudos I've gotten. :)  
> Find me on twitter @truexmeg and tumblr @truemeg  
> Thanks again! <3


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